Gravity & Planets

What kind of solar system is possible?

Click on the thumbnail below to go to the PhET simulation of My Solar System.

PhET: My Solar System

Run the simulation and find three planets at different locations that will produce circular orbits. (Click on "Show Grid" so you can tell if the sun is at the center of the orbit!) (Hint: Make the planets small in mass, so they don't noticeably move the sun.)

When you have created the 3-Circle Solar System, take a screen shot, and use it in the GR1 assignment, found on the Teachers folder.


A NASA web site shows objects (asteroids and comets) that orbit the Sun near the Earth. These are the objects that could possibly intersect the Earth's orbit, with disastrous consequences! Click on the image below to see a list of these objects.

Click here for NASA's Orbit Site